Essential steps for export order execution in Garment Industry

 

When it comes to garment merchandising, the execution of orders is one of the core Job Descriptions (J.D) which has to be performed by the merchandiser. This includes the day-to-day report of the consignment as well as the order brief to the buyer. When an order gets confirmed, the merchandiser performs each and every task, including sampling to order development. When the sample gets approved, the merchandiser then proceeds to the completion of the order in bulk. During this process, the merchandiser has to coordinate with each and every associate aspect to make sure the consignment gets shipped or aired within the lead time. Otherwise, the reputation of the company in the eyes of the buyer gets stained.
These are the steps through which a merchandiser has to went on in order to execute the order,

• Inquiry of The Product

Whenever a buyer contacts the manufacturer or the buyer decides to do business with a manufacturing company after a successful professional approach by the company, they send over brief details about their desired product. The merchandiser skims through the desired features of the order and confirms to the buyer whether they will be able to execute the order or not within the lead time. 

• Lead Time Availability

When the merchandiser confirms the specifications of the product, the next thing to do is check the production schedule of the company and at the same time ask the lead time window from the buyer. After reconciling with the company's production schedule as well as the lead time of the buyer, the merchandiser then confirms the delivery date of the consignment. 

It is to be noted, that the lead time of the consignment or project starts from the order confirmation to the delivery date of the consignment or project.

• Costing

Costing is one of the cores and fundamental steps included in the J.D of the merchandiser. When calculating the cost of making the consignment, the merchandiser calculates costing which considering three aspects namely,

• Fabric Price
• Trims and accessories price
• Cost of making

• Purchase Order (P.O)

A purchase order (P.O) is simply a document that has all the purchase authorization for the manufacturer. It includes the description of the product, quantity, prices, discount, payment terms, date of shipment, etc. 

• Order Confirmation

An order confirmation is simply a go-ahead by the buyer to the manufacturer that they can proceed with the production and that's when the lead time gets started. So what happens is, the buyer usually issues a (P.O) which includes all the specifications of the product as well as the authorization to buy necessary trims and accessories. However, the buyer does not give a go-ahead for the production yet. In this scenario, the issued (P.O) works as a token for the manufacturer that, arrange all the required accessories and wait till we give an order confirmation. Once the manufacturer receives the order confirmation, they then proceed with the production.

This above-mentioned scenario is very rare in the actual manufacturing world. Normally when the buyer issues a (P.O) that is when the order has been confirmed already, the buyer will definitely come back with the order confirmation, however as mentioned already that in a very rare case scenario, the buyer does not come back with the order confirmation.

• Guarantee of Payment

Normally in the manufacturing business, the payment usually gets done afterward when the consignment gets delivered. This does not mean the entire once and all payment, rather the payment gets breakdown level by level so that the manufacturing cost of the manufacturer gets covered. There have been two types of payment methods renowned within the manufacturing business.

Telegraphic Transfer (T.T): It is a cash payment method, not is used these days.

Letter of Credit (L/C): This is a letter issued by the buyer to the manufacturer and the guarantee of payment is taken by a Bank from the buyer's side. The bank usually issues the L/C and they freeze the amount that is being mentioned in the L/C.

• T&A Calendar 

Time and Action calendar is simply a schedule of production made by the manufacturer to ensure that each and every consignment gets completed within their respective lead time.

• Inspection of the Inventory & Report Making

Once all the required fabric trims and accessories get in-house the quality and quantity of the inventory have to be checked. All of this has to be done through proper testing as well as report making to ensure the quality aspect of the inventory is upheld.

• Pre-Production (P.P) Meeting 

This meeting is held just before going for bulk production. The purpose behind this meeting is to ensure all the important figures within the company/Factory are satisfied with the arrangements. In this meeting, the following figures are invited to share their point and views. The QC (Quality Checker) of the factory, the Merchandiser, Cutting master, Pattern master, Production manager. If the buyer has involved a third party in the consignment to check upon the production process, then the buying house QC and Buying house merchandiser also get involved in the meeting.

• Trial/pilot Cutting

Just before going for bulk production, little amount quantity (200-300 pieces of garment) of fabric are cut to check the production efficiency as well as the production cost.

• Production Line Set-up

After going through all the preparatory sets, the company proceeds toward bulk production of the consignment. The merchandiser has to tick out each and every set of the production line including, numbering, bundling, and sorting of the fabric pieces. Arrangement of sewing machines in the line. Once the production line gets set up, now the merchandiser's job is to make sure the process is running as per schedule, production running to its maximum efficiency, and the testing reports are satisfactory or not.

• Finishing

When the garment gets produced or switched, then comes the finishing part. Since we are discussing only garment order execution, so after switching the garment went for Ironing, then the garment is packed in polythene bags or else (Depending upon the requirement of the buyer) then the garment is packed in a carton box which includes a number of garment pieces in it.

• Pre-Final Inspection

This inspection is done only by the factory Q.C (Quality Checker) who checks and inspects the garment when it comes after the production line. The purpose of pre-final production is to make sure that each garment is switched accordingly.

• Final Inspection

After finishing, the final inspection process starts. The final inspection is done by different figures namely,

Factory Q.C

Buyer Q.C

Buyer

Third-party inspection: Conducted by testing houses (If the buyer insists) 

• Delivery of Consignment

Once everything gets done, the delivery of the consignment is the final step. Meanwhile, when the production is underway, the merchandiser's other job is to make sure each and every document regarding the shipment of the consignment is done so that when the consignment gets completed, the shipment must get shipped straight away. The consignment must not be stored in the factory because this considers being an unprofessional approach by the merchandiser as well as the factory/company.